Commission for Environmental Cooperation Launches 'EJ4Climate', US$2 Million Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience Grant Program

New North American grant program will address environmental inequality and promote community-level innovation and climate adaptation.

MONTREAL, Sept. 14, 2021 /CNW/ - The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is launching a first-of-its-kind US$2 million grant program, EJ4Climate, to support environmental justice and climate resilience for underserved, vulnerable communities, and Indigenous communities across North America.

Initiated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the CEC established this new grant program to support underserved and overburdened communities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States as they prepare for climate-related impacts. This program will provide funding directly to Indigenous communities and community-based organizations to deliver environmental justice and advance local solutions to adapt to climate change.

"Climate change touches every aspect of our lives and it acts as a threat multiplier for our most vulnerable communities," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan who chaired the recent 2021 CEC Council Session. "That's why I'm honored to join our partners to announce the EJ4Climate grant program, as the CEC expands its work to deliver environmental justice and foster climate resilience across North America. The program announced today will help elevate environmental protections for all people – regardless of the money in their pocket, color of their skin, or community they live in."

The CEC is now accepting applications for grants and cooperative agreements to be funded under the EJ4Climate grant program. Proposals are due by 14 November, 2021 and projects will begin implementation in February 2022.

For this inaugural grant cycle, the CEC is calling for initiatives that:

• Support community resilience to climate change and climate-related impacts;
• Yield tangible, equitable benefits for local communities by addressing or adapting to climate change impacts;
• Consider local knowledge and transform that knowledge into an innovative action or solution; and
• Build partnerships that respond to community-identified challenges.

Possible projects under the grant program could include addressing extreme weather impacts, transitioning to clean energy and/or transportation systems, or utilizing traditional ecological knowledge to address climate change impacts.

Eligible applicants include non-profit and non-governmental organizations, environmental groups, community-based associations, tribal nations, and Indigenous Peoples and communities.

For more information on this new environmental justice and climate resilience grant program go to cec.org/EJ4Climate.

About the CEC
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement parallel to the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous People, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America's shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations. Find out more at: www.cec.org.

The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.

SOURCE Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Emily Edwards, 604-842-6490, [email protected], Patrick Tonissen, [email protected], [phone]